London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Jan 20, 2026

Junior doctors in England to strike for three days in June

Junior doctors in England to strike for three days in June

Junior doctors in England have announced a new 72-hour walkout in June after the latest round of government pay talks broke down.
The strike will take place between 07:00 on Wednesday 14 June and 07:00 on Saturday 17 June.

The British Medical Association (BMA) union, which represents doctors and medical students, said a government offer of a 5% rise was not "credible".

Ministers said pay talks could only continue if the strike was called off.

A government spokesperson called the new pay offer "fair and reasonable", and said it was "surprising and deeply disappointing" that the BMA had declared further strikes "while constructive talks were ongoing".

The BMA said it was willing to continue talks, and was hoping for a "credible offer" from the government.

This will be the third strike by junior doctors since the pay dispute began.

The BMA said strikes would take place "throughout summer" if the government did not change its position, with a minimum of three days of walkouts a month until its mandate expires in August.

The union has been asking for a 35% increase to make up for 15 years of below-inflation rises.

Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, said the BMA had had three weeks of negotiations with the government but that ministers would not recognise "the scale of our pay erosion", which they said was equivalent to a 26% cut over the last 15 years.

This is the amount pay has fallen once inflation is taken into account, the BMA says.

NHS Providers, a membership organisation for NHS services, said the strikes would cause "major disruption" and it was "vital serious talks take place between the government and unions" to resolve the dispute.

Deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said: "We understand junior doctors feel they've been pushed to this point by factors including below-inflation pay uplifts and severe staffing shortages."

Last month, unions representing most - although not all - staff on one key type of NHS contract did agree to the government's latest pay offer of a 5% pay rise and a one-off payment of at least £1,655.

That did not cover doctors or dentists but did include many paramedics, physios, cleaners and porters - although members of both the nurses' union, the Royal College of Nurses (RCN), and Unite, which represents some ambulance staff, voted against it.

The government had been in talks with junior doctors in a bid to avert a third round of strike action after previous walkouts in March and April.

The language from the BMA and the government suggests both sides are a long way from agreement, with union representatives saying ministers will not accept the "fundamental reality" of the situation.

At the same time, their more senior colleagues - consultant doctors - are being balloted separately on industrial action in a vote which runs through until 27 June.

Junior doctors make up around half of all hospital doctors in England and a half of all GPs. The BMA represents over 46,000 junior doctors in the UK.

In Scotland, junior doctors have been offered a new 14.5% pay rise over a two-year period after negotiations with the Scottish government.

BMA Scotland said it would now consult its members, who voted in favour of strike action earlier this month, on the offer.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Aides Say U.S. Has Discussed Offering Asylum to British Jews Amid Growing Antisemitism Concerns
UK Seeks Diplomatic De-escalation with Trump Over Greenland Tariff Threat
Prince Harry Returns to London as High Court Trial Begins Over Alleged Illegal Tabloid Snooping
High-Speed Train Collision in Southern Spain Kills at Least Twenty-One and Injures Scores
Meghan Markle May Return to the U.K. This Summer as Security Review Advances
Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat Sparks EU Response and Risks Deep Transatlantic Rift
Prince Harry’s High Court Battle With Daily Mail Publisher Begins in London
Trump’s Tariff Escalation Presents Complex Challenges for the UK Economy
UK Prime Minister Starmer Rebukes Trump’s Greenland Tariff Strategy as Transatlantic Tensions Rise
Prince Harry’s Last Press Case in UK Court Signals Potential Turning Point in Media and Royal Relations
OpenAI to Begin Advertising in ChatGPT in Strategic Shift to New Revenue Model
GDP Growth Remains the Most Telling Barometer of Britain’s Economic Health
Prince William and Kate Middleton Stay Away as Prince Harry Visits London Amid Lingering Rift
Britain Braces for Colder Weather and Snow Risk as Temperatures Set to Plunge
Mass Protests Erupt as UK Nears Decision on China’s ‘Mega Embassy’ in London
Prince Harry to Return to UK to Testify in High-Profile Media Trial Against Associated Newspapers
Keir Starmer Rejects Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat as ‘Completely Wrong’
Trump to hit Europe with 10% tariffs until Greenland deal is agreed
Prince Harry Returns to UK High Court as Final Privacy Trial Against Daily Mail Publisher Begins
Britain Confronts a Billion-Pound Wind Energy Paradox Amid Grid Constraints
The graduate 'jobpocalypse': Entry-level jobs are not shrinking. They are disappearing.
Cybercrime, Inc.: When Crime Becomes an Economy. How the World Accidentally Built a Twenty-Trillion-Dollar Criminal Economy
The Return of the Hands: Why the AI Age Is Rewriting the Meaning of “Real Work”
UK PM Kier Scammer Ridicules Tories With "Kamasutra"
Strategic Restraint, Credible Force, and the Discipline of Power
United Kingdom and Norway Endorse NATO’s ‘Arctic Sentry’ Mission Including Greenland
Woman Claiming to Be Freddie Mercury’s Secret Daughter Dies at Forty-Eight After Rare Cancer Battle
UK Launches First-Ever ‘Town of Culture’ Competition to Celebrate Local Stories and Boost Communities
Planned Sale of Shell and Exxon’s UK Gas Assets to Viaro Energy Collapses Amid Regulatory and Market Hurdles
UK Intensifies Arctic Security Engagement as Trump’s Greenland Rhetoric Fuels Allied Concern
Meghan Markle Could Return to the UK for the First Time in Nearly Four Years If Security Is Secured
Meghan Markle Likely to Return to UK Only if Harry Secures Official Security Cover
UAE Restricts Funding for Emiratis to Study in UK Amid Fears Over Muslim Brotherhood Influence
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks to Safeguard Long-Term Agreement Stability
Starmer’s Push to Rally Support for Action Against Elon Musk’s X Faces Setback as Canada Shuns Ban
UK Free School Meals Expansion Faces Political and Budgetary Delays
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks With Britain
Germany Hit by Major Airport Strikes Disrupting European Travel
Prince Harry Seeks King Charles’ Support to Open Invictus Games on UK Return
Washington Holds Back as Britain and France Signal Willingness to Deploy Troops in Postwar Ukraine
Elon Musk Accuses UK Government of Suppressing Free Speech as X Faces Potential Ban Over AI-Generated Content
Russia Deploys Hypersonic Missile in Strike on Ukraine
OpenAI and SoftBank Commit One Billion Dollars to Energy and Data Centre Supplier
UK Prime Minister Starmer Reaffirms Support for Danish Sovereignty Over Greenland Amid U.S. Pressure
UK Support Bolsters U.S. Seizure of Russian-Flagged Tanker Marinera in Atlantic Strike on Sanctions Evasion
The Claim That Maduro’s Capture and Trial Violate International Law Is Either Legally Illiterate—or Deliberately Deceptive
UK Data Watchdog Probes Elon Musk’s X Over AI-Generated Grok Images Amid Surge in Non-Consensual Outputs
Prince Harry to Return to UK for Court Hearing Without Plans to Meet King Charles III
UK Confirms Support for US Seizure of Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker in North Atlantic
Béla Tarr, Visionary Hungarian Filmmaker, Dies at Seventy After Long Illness
×